Iringa Hope visits 2013: On To Ilambilole

After we left Isimani we headed back towards town. Ilambilole is about 45 minutes to an hour from Iringa down the Dodoma road. We called ahead so they would know that we would be late (we had spent more time at Isimani that we expected). We turned off the main road and went down a side road for a few miles and we were there.

When we got there we were met by the Pastor and all of the SACCOS officers. They were very happy to see us. The Pastor’s wife had prepared chai – so of course we had chai first. While we ate we talked with the Pastor about the congregation. The congregation has two main groups of farmers – large farmers (10-15 acres) and small farmers (2-5 acres). Most of the members of the SACCOS are small farmers. They earn about $350/year (pretty average for the Iringa area). They have been having poor yields here for the past few years due to shortages in the rainfall. This year however looks to be good for them.

We noticed that their SACCOS had gone from (about) 12,000,000 Tsc in capital last year to almost 18,000,000 this year – an increase of 50% or $3,750. So where did this come from? They told us that they were having a hard time saving due to the poor yields so the SACCOS had arranged to have them save some of their crop at the SACCOS location and then sold it later in the year for a much better price than at harvest time – very good Ilambilole! They then gave the farmers the amount of the lower price and put the difference in their savings accounts! We congratulated them on their good program and told them about our business plan competition, suggesting that maybe they should make this an ongoing program of their SACCOS. They were very excited about this. They had been thinking about doing this but now they were sure they would be proposing it.

When we were finished with chai we went over to the meeting. The Ilambilole SACCOS has 58 active members. While most of them had been there early, only 24 of them had been able to stay until we got there from our delayed meeting at Isimani. It was a very good meeting. We discussed how their SACCOS was going. Tom gave them an overview of Iringa Hope, Sandy greeted them and gave out pens, Brown and Peter gave brief discussions, and then Itiweni gave a class. The people were very interested in the class, taking lots of notes and asking questions.

We interviewed several people to ask about their experiences with the SACCOS. One of the most impressive stories came from Lucy Nyanguye, 30 years old. She is married with 4 young children. She has been a member of the SACCOS for 3 years now. She hires someone to watch her children while she farms. Her last loan was for 690,000 Tsc ($430). She used this to buy fertilizer and seed for her maize crop. The crop looks good. She expects to harvest 100 bags of maize. This should bring in 7,000,000 Tsc for a profit of 6,310,000 Tsc ($3,945!). She is using this to send her husband to the university, pay for her daycare while she works the fields, and send her children to school – amazing job! (Just in case you doubt her estimated income, the Pastor believes that she is too low.)

Finally we were getting ready to go. We went over to have lunch at the Parsonage. After lunch we brought out some reading glasses that have been donated for the over 40 crowd. Soon everyone was trying on glasses. With amazed looks they started trying on various strengths. “I need 2.0” “I need 1.5” “I need 3.0” and so the glasses were given out.

After a bit we headed down the road to Iringa. On the way we once again had to wait for a traffic jam or two to clear. When we got back to Iringa the day was not yet done. Thursday evening is the Microfinance time slot at Radio Furaha. We grabbed a quick dinner. Luckily Gary and Carol Langness were serving tacos so we could eat and run. Then we went to the radio station to do a show.

Tom was the guest lecturer tonight (as he will be for the next month or so). His talk tonight was “How to be the richest man you know.” In his talk he told the audience that money did not make you rich, you only need to have enough money. Rather it is relationships with spouse, family, and friends that make you rich. He told them that in the next few weeks he would talk about how to make sure you have enough money but tonight he wanted to talk about what it meant to be rich. Sandy thought it sounded more like a dating seminar than a financial program. But the phones rang solidly with questions and the next day many people told Tom they liked the show!

To get to Ilambilole you turn off the main road and go a few miles down a side road.

When we got there we were greeted by the Pastor. He was very happy to see us.

The members were very interested in Itiweni's lesson and took lots of notes. The woman on the right had told us her story last year. This year we interviewed the woman on the left!

Tom had to give the children candy. These two cuties wanted to try on his hat!

Lucy Nyanguye is 30 years old. She is married with 4 young children. She has been a member of the SACCOS for 3 years now. She is sending her husband to the University and her children to secondary school with her profits.

We also interviewed Rodin Chaula (below) and Betseba Mwinlonge (above). They also had wonderful stories about what their loans were doing for their families.